Disclaimer:

What is obvious is that I don't own anything officially related to Yu-Gi-Oh. What isn't obvious is that I also don't own the title "Lost Innocence". I was attempting to be cute. The title belongs to the Eric Stuart Band, or Eric Stuart himself as the man who wrote the song to begin with. It's important to note that the song and this story started out in no way connected to each other.

Author's Notes:

This was originally the last chapter. I just couldn't think of anything else to say. It really supported the idea that this was just a random snapshot out of Seto's life, but no one seemed particularly happy with it. My attempt to tie it back to the opening of the story was just pathetic by all accounts. It needed something, closure or a sequel.

I will say that I did enjoy writing this piece, despite its initially weak ending. It's almost too much fun to torment Seto. It was a bit challenging to come back in and do the edit a couple of months later. That mood, that mindset...it just doesn't come easily.

Chapter 6

Hoping to further encourage Seto, Gozaburo arranged for three of them to take all of their meals together. During these family dinners, the man had little trouble coaxing conversation out of Mokuba, but Seto sat sullenly. The older boy did little more than pick at his food, saying he wasn't hungry. Gozaburo watched this development carefully. The ten year old should have been as happy and excited as his younger brother. Instead, he was distant, moody.

Preparing for another war with his stepson, Gozaburo started making plans to break Seto's spirit again. That night, Gozaburo permitted Mokuba to stay with Seto. The gesture set off loud alarms in Seto's mind. He barely slept, keeping a close eye on his slumbering brother, occasionally brushing a raven lock from his angelic face.

Mokuba was still asleep when their stepfather came to wake them up. Seto, however, was ready to face the day. His thoughts were filled with nothing but ridding himself of Gozaburo. The boys ate breakfast with their stepfather, but were separated afterwards for their studies. Seto noticed gratefully that his work load had not increased. He worked quickly, completing most of his work by midday. Gozaburo continued to keep his word, bringing the three of them together for lunch and dinner, the brothers only separated for their lessons.

Mokuba was slowly allowed to spend more time with his brother outside of meals. The boys worked on their homework together, and then Mokuba played quietly while Seto finished his homework. Except Seto stopped playing with Mokuba, instead adding reading more business books to his schedule. The little boy was heartbroken. More and more, Seto seemed not to notice him. He only glanced Mokuba's direction occasionally to make sure the younger boy was all right. Even the five year old's best attempts to distract his older brother into taking breaks failed to reach Seto. "I can't right now, Moki. I have a lot of work to do," Seto replied tersely as Mokuba tried to get him to play chess with him.

"You always have a lot of work to do! Come on, Seto! Come play!" Seto sighed angrily and returned to his work. Mokuba just stared at him, feeling rejected and lonely. He finally settled himself into Seto's bed and cried himself to sleep. Seto barely noticed.

The same scene played itself out over several nights, creating an unusually tense relationship between the brothers. Even Gozaburo noticed the change. Trying to correct the problem, he reduced Seto's school work load and lifted all restrictions on Mokuba's time with him. His efforts backfired. Angered at the lack of work, Seto lashed out at his stepfather repeatedly. He'd simply worked too hard to be treated like he was incompetent. Most of his attacks were verbal, demanding his stepfather's respect. Occasionally, exhaustion and frustration drove him to physically launch himself at Gozanuro, who would unsuccessfully attempt to hold the tall lanky boy at arm's length until his bodyguard could retrieve the ten year old and hold him beyond harm's reach. Gozaburo Kaiba didn't take well to his stepson's insults. Seto's workload was quickly restored, but the CEO ordered more difficult assignments to be added. The boy, initially grateful, was soon suffering from stress and a lack of sleep. Soon, he was arguing over anything and everything with his stepfather and lashing out at everybody. Even Mokuba was afraid to go near him anymore.

One particularly stressful night, Seto was hard at work well past his normal beditme. He refused to listen to Mokuba, who was pleading with him to get some rest, and kept working until his vision blurred. He rested his forehead against his fingertips, wishing the pounding in his head would cease soon. Worried about his older brother, Mokuba watched Seto from the floor where he had quietly been leading block armies in war against each other. He was dead tired, but he couldn't let himself sleep until he knew Seto was all right. Seeing his brother's head droop, the little boy carefully tiptoed over to the desk. Seto hadn't attacked him yet, but Mokuba knew it was just a matter of time. He also knew his brother was in desperate need of a break. Timidly, he touched the older boy's arm, "Seto?"

The resulting push from the surprised ten year old sent Mokuba across the room and into the footboard of Seto's bed. As he heard the resulting thud, Seto looked toward the bed, satisfaction giving way very quickly to guilt as he saw it was his brother sitting there on the floor. His brother had been the victim of his shove. Mokuba just looked at him, his cherubic face radiating both hurt and concern.

"Mokie!" Guilt consumed Seto's every step as he raced to his brother's side. The smaller boy was unhurt and more than willing to forgive his older brother, but Seto was far too psychologically damaged by the past couple of months. Mokuba tried to comfort him, but Seto had been pushed well beyond his coping limits. Finally, the five year old gave up and crawled into bed, where he fought to keep himself from crying.

Seto sat on the floor at the foot of his bed staring at his hands, horrified by his treatment of his younger brother. He'd been distracted from taking care of Mokuba by his growing desire to destroy his stepfather. He looked over at the still-looming tower of books on his desk. Slowly, deliberately, he walked over to his desk and took his anger out on the stack. He knocked them off with a sweeping blow, and screamed before falling into his chair. His pain released itself in the form of warm, salty tears that quickly soaked his cheeks. Through his sobbing, his eyes landed on a piece of paper, an assignment he had been working on for the past couple of days. He picked it up, looked at Mokuba sleeping fretfully on the bed, and grinned.

Sitting in his dimly lit room, he held his victory in his hands, an inane school assignment titled "Business Plan".

I will defeat you, Gozaburo Kaiba, and I'll keep my family intact in the process.